1. Field
This disclosure is generally related to mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). More specifically, this disclosure is related to the use of a utility-based cross layering mechanism within a mobile application specific network (MASNET) to facilitate large-scale MANETs that adapt to application needs.
2. Related Art
Typical ad hoc communication systems oftentimes require independent mobile users that can communicate in a non-centralized and self-organized fashion. For example, mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) employ peer-to-peer a communication protocol to determine a path between two wireless nodes. Some key characteristics of MANETs include their ability to adapt to route changes due to mobility and the fact that they have no requirement for base stations or access points for node organization.
In theory, a MANET provides an ideal communication infrastructure to support disaster-relief and battlefield operations, emergency search and rescue missions, and many other mobile and distributed applications. However, these applications cannot be supported effectively in today's networks. This is mainly because the networks do not scale due to the excessive signaling incurred with an increasing number of nodes and applications. More specifically, MANET protocols distribute calculations (such as routing information) over many nodes hop-by-hop. To ensure protocol correctness and efficient operation, such as to avoid loops and excessive flooding, complex distributed algorithms are needed.
Centralizing resources has been proposed as an approach to address the growing needs of today's networks. One example is software defined networking (SDN), such as the one based on the OpenFlow protocol. In SDN, the “control plane” and the “data plane” are separated, and at least two control routers are used to instantiate state on the controlled network elements. With SDN, the topology of the network is virtualized at the controller nodes, which compute routes from sources to destinations according to a network-wide view, and can instantiate the “flow-state” at each switch of the network. Unfortunately, current SDN implementations compute paths based on the flow-states of the network, and thus cannot be applied to MANETs. Furthermore, SDN approaches have focused on static wired networks, where the controller is one logical link away from every switch, and thus do not address the dynamic placement of content and services.
Another approach is information centric networking (ICN) which is based on a publish-subscribe scheme where content objects are given names, all routing nodes act also as caching sites, and requests stating interest in specific content are disseminated in a way similar to route requests where the nearest sites with copies of the request content answer the requests. However, while ICN approaches allow a network to adapt to application needs by dynamically providing content and services from the nearest sites, ICN schemes are limited when applied to large-scale dynamic networks. Because ICN routing is performed based on object names, excessive signaling overhead is incurred. Also, the complexity of the nodes (e.g., routing nodes can be required to cache content and evaluate content requests to determine if requested content is stored locally) can incur additional signaling overhead.